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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
If you ask a bunch of MMA fighters for a favorite icon or inspiration, a common answer is likely to be Mike Tyson. However, in an interview with Elie Seckbach of EsNews, the question was flipped on “Iron Mike,” and he was asked if he had a favorite UFC fighter. Tyson replied with former Bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt, “Because he’s with Tyson Ranch,” which is Tyson’s marijuana company. In addition, Tyson believes that Garbrandt “should go for it” in regards to boxing former champion Adrien Broner.
Garbrandt has also appeared on Tyson’s podcast, another likely reason for the fandom.
The legendary boxer is also pretty friendly with Dana White, who he say is the man to “clean boxing up.” Meanwhile, Garbrandt is currently recovering from an injured hand and aiming to return to the cage in March 2020.
Insomnia
Paul Felder with the fun callout of Dan Hooker, a smart match up that I’d like to see. It’s disappointing that Hooker managed to dominate Iaquinta, thus destroying the potentially great headline of “Raging Al Beats Hooker!”
— Paul Felder (@felderpaul) October 9, 2019
Three nights in a row featuring a Gilbert Burns related post — asking to fight all the time is working! Main event or not, this card could use Burns to help bulk it up a bit.
IF THE @UFC NEEDS A NEW MAIN EVENT FOR TAMPA THIS WEEKEND! I FIGHT AGAINST ANYONE ANYWEIGHT ! JUST GIVE A ME A NAME!! @seanshelby @AliAbdelaziz00 @danawhite
— GILBERT BURNS DURINHO (@GilbertDurinho) October 9, 2019
An awesome lock room reaction to Israel Adesanya’s title win.
Shots fired! And here I thought the two were basically the same person.
Didn’t Joanna literally just fire you for screwing up her weight cut and call the UFC PI to try and fix all the damage you created??? https://t.co/1usF5916IE
— Mike DOLCE (@TheDolceDiet) October 9, 2019
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Dana White gets a lot of the heat, but Joe Silva was largely in charge of fighter negotiations for many years and was notoriously tough to deal with.
For context on the negotiations with Silva re Bang, here are the two emails his management sent to Silva. One asking for the orginal $18K/$18K and then another for $17K/$17K. Appears the #UFC was set on $16K. Note that his mgr states Bang paid $4K for his last fight in Germany pic.twitter.com/rxJSbsrt5O
— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) October 9, 2019
Preceding the prior email screenshot, Silva told Bang’s management that he didn’t cut him after 2 losses and his win against Nick Osipczak (a split decision) at UFC 122 was a “gift” #UFC #Zuffalawsuit pic.twitter.com/2TDBWWGZW9
— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) October 9, 2019
Bellator working with Rizin is perhaps the smartest moves they’ve made in recent years.
Collaboration Never Die. pic.twitter.com/eL2MJHpOBT
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) October 9, 2019
Since today’s section happened to have more Twitter writing than usual, let’s end it with Jon Haggerty just destroying some pads.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
A submission finish with a fun back story! This type of incident is more common than one would expect — maybe not the forged documents, but lying about identities is not uncommon in unsanctioned fighting.
Here’s your bizarre MMA story for the day. The fighter being choked here is NOT Batuhan Akduman. It seems a young fighter using a forged passport POSED as Akduman in the fight, included graphics & GFC announcing him as such. Now the real Akduman is pissed. https://t.co/EFv0ohweik https://t.co/6oI1PG8kDO
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) October 9, 2019
Throwback Douglas Lima violence is always welcome.
#OTD in 2011, @PhenomLima clinched his spot in the @BellatorMMA WW tournament final with a devastating KO
Sound familiar? Lima meets @rory_macdonald for the WW Title Oct 26th on DAZN pic.twitter.com/YPc6WLipnz
— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) October 8, 2019
There’s something to be said for trying something until it works!
Random Land
If only those driving on the freeway could merge with such efficiency:
Midnight Music: An excellent piece of ‘60s soul! Despite its slow-burn nature, “When A Man Loves A Woman” hit No. 1 in 1966 and again when Michael Bolton covered the track in 1991. Percy Sledge’s version >>>
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.